16 August 2009

Day 85


I'm on a Boat., originally uploaded by Ryan Runs Europe.

12.5 Kilometers.
In the morning, we went drove out to the harbor and spent the day on Paolo's brother's speedboat. It went fast, and in a matter of minutes we were at a nearby island where we stopped to go swimming in the beautiful clear water. All day we ate, drank and swam...every once and a while moving the boat to a new location on another part of the island to swim in some different water. This was definitely some of the nicest water I have been in, and the island was also pretty incredible. It had an old castle, and in many places there were steps cut into the stone to go down to the water. I also finally had some time to work on making my backpack and sockline tan a little bit less harsh. It was an amazing last day being 21 years old, and I just had to marvel at where I was and how I got there.
In the evening, we came back in and docked the boat, and Paolo and I prepared for a little run. He wanted to go out for a little bit, and I wanted to knock a few miles off of the next day (and get my legs moving a little bit to better recover from the day before)...so I Kenyan shuffled the 12 km up the other side of the peninsula with Paolo before dark, where his sister picked us up and drove us back.
His mom made an incredible dinner, and I ate a pretty incredible amount of food as well. After dinner Paolo went to sleep (pretty wiped out) and I spent the evening talking to his mother, who is a pretty incredible woman. She was born in Russia, and moved to Tehran when she was a baby. Refusing her arranged marriage at 10 years of age, she went to Sicily to take singing lessons. She ended up singing in New York, and meeting her husband with whom she eventually moved to Rome. Now she paints (and had a piece in the Venice Biennial long ago) and cooks and keeps a garden. We talked until late, and around two am I went to sleep...technically on my birthday.

24 comments:

  1. Some people don't like spending their birthday away from home, but I predict yours will be fabulous this year ;)
    Happy birthday, whenever this gets posted. Keep up the amazing work, we're all behind you (though some further and across more ocean than others ;D)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy 22nd Birthday Ryan! Can you believe it was a year ago we all celebrated your birthday in NYC.

    Sounds like you had a couple rough days followed by a couple fantastic days...I guess that is the whole yin and yang...

    Think about you every day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! SQUASHED TOMATEOES AND STEW! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR RYAN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
    I love you son, and hope you have a wonderful birthday doing the things you enjoy (like running for example!)
    Remembering your birth, 22 years ago in Hong Kong, I cant help but tell you, I feel lucky to be your Mom, you have always made me proud, as you find the magic in our world, and I smile every time I think about your positive attitude and zest for life. Thanks for that....I love you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. guauuuuuu me gustaria saber leer bien ingles para poder entender mejor!!! que lindo lo que estas haciendo!!! me encanta besos y y exitos!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. what you are doing is awesome!
    I wish you a happy birthday!!!
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice way to spend your pre-b'day!... an interesting lady indeed.... Happy b'day...that water is beautiful

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Birthday Ryan!!! Run through Croatia next year! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy Birthday, I so enjoy following your blog and reading your adventures!

    ReplyDelete
  10. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ryan! Wishing you much laughter, love and fulfilled dreams! (And to you mom: Congratulations and Thank You for raising such wonderful soul!)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Ryan, belated Happy Birthday. Spent a few of those with you in the past. Sorry you ddnt get the bumps this year!! Keep on running - thinking of you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Happy Birthday. I love reading your posts. It is encouraging to read about another runner who does most of his running by himself. I can get lonely.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lut and Philippe, Wim, Kate, Jonah and Rosie
    We'll wish you a very happy birthday but we're a day to late but what is a day over a whole year long? We stay following your run and we hope, no we're sure that you will get the finish8

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy Birthday! Also, what is the Kenyan shuffle?

    ReplyDelete
  15. happy birthday man and hey who's meeting you in rome?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Happy birthday!!! What an awesome way to spend your summer!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Happy Birthday Ryan! So glad that you have had such an enjoyable & safe trip as you run Europe. Thanks for taking us with you as you share the experience.

    ReplyDelete